Does Cutting Out Alcohol Really Help You Lose Weight?

Is cutting out the glass of wine that comes with your family dinners, stopping ordering a cocktail at the bar with your friends on weekends, an effective way to lose weight? Florence de Le Rue, psycho-nutritionist, dietitian and author of the illustrated book L’anti-mytheimentaire published by Albin Michel Editions, answers this question that many of us ask ourselves: does stopping alcohol make you lose weight?

The impact on weight depends on individual consumption

Do you want to lose weight by removing alcohol from your meals and party nights? Yes indeed, not drinking a single drop of alcohol will probably have an effect on your body, and it will show on the scale, but the result is variable and depends on the alcohol consumption of each to begin with.

If you consume alcohol only on weekends, for example 2 or 3 glasses, it is not comparable to people who have as a ritual to help themselves a glass of wine or beer on the way home every day. Evening, after a long day, and which continue the weekend

The impact on weight of stopping alcohol will obviously not be the same in these two cases. The more alcohol you consume at the start, the greater the impact will be on your weight and your figure.

Why alcohol isn’t eliminating completely

“That’s it, I take charge, and I stop alcohol to lose my extra pounds!” The idea in itself is not bad, when we know the consequences, of excessive alcohol consumption, on health or quite simply on the figure. But for Florence de Le Rue, the principle of “all or nothing” can be a source of great frustration, we quickly get into a system of guilt, which is the enemy number 1 of the line. And who says frustration does not necessarily mean weight loss in the long term. Quite the contrary!

Yes, in the short term, we will see an impact, since the body will store the sugars present in alcoholic drinks as fat. But in the medium or even long term, completely stopping alcohol and not changing the rest of your diet will not work. And the idea is not to crack after a month of stopping alcohol, accompanied by frustrations and suddenly regain all the lost pounds associated with guilt. A vicious circle therefore, to be avoided.

Consume alcohol. But otherwise

If in the long term, the frustrations have a negative impact on the line, the idea would be to modify and thus reduce his alcohol consumption, while also balancing his diet more. Starting from the principle that alcohol is a pleasure, there is no question of suppressing this pleasure and forbidding it: one can consume alcohol, but in full consciousness, while taking pleasure.
Many of us no longer even ask the question of knowing whether or not here, tonight, we want a small glass of wine around a good dinner, or if we follow our friends, without even realize this by agreeing to be served, a glass, then two, then three… We no longer even taste what we drink, as if we were on automatic pilot: my glass is empty, I refill myself. A phenomenon often linked to a social need.

Before having a drink, whether it’s a glass of beer in a bar with a friend, a glass of white wine on the way home after a difficult day, a glass of champagne at the office to celebrate a promotion, a cocktail during a night out, just ask yourself if you feel like it.

If the answer is no, there is no reason to force yourself, on the contrary, we will prefer to opt for sparkling water, or anything else that makes us happy.
If the answer, on the other hand, is “Yes, I want to” , it is better not to try to refrain from taking this glass, but to help yourself and make the glass last by taking the time to taste it. Connecting to oneself, one’s desire, one’s pleasure, you will see it if you experience it, very easily reduce one’s alcohol consumption. At the end of the evening, if you savor each drink, you will quickly find that you have consumed less, because you are more in line with your pleasure and more attentive to your needs.

Result, if we take stock at the end of each week, we significantly lower calorie intake, and all that, without frustration!

Thanks to Florence De Le Rue, psycho-nutritionist and dietitian, greedy and a little rebellious who offers an alternative and uninhibiting vision of food in her illustrated book L’anti- mytheimentaire , (Éditions Albin Michel)